Source: The provisions of this part 343 appear at 65 Fed. Reg.
75843, December 4, 2000, effective October 1, 2001, except as otherwise
noted.

§ 343.10 Purpose and scope.

This part establishes consumer protections in connection with retail
sales practices, solicitations, advertising, or offers of any insurance
product or annuity to a consumer by:

(a) Any bank; or

(b) Any other person that is engaged in such activities at an
office of the bank or on behalf of the bank.

[Codified to 12 C.F.R. § 343.10]

§ 343.20 Definitions.

As used in this part:

(a) Affiliate means a company that controls, is
controlled by, or is under common control with another company.

(b) Bank means an FDIC-insured state-chartered
commercial or savings bank that is not a member of the Federal Reserve
System and for which the FDIC is the appropriate federal banking agency
pursuant to section 3(q) of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act
(12 U.S.C. 1813(q)).

(c) Company means any corporation, partnership, business
trust, association or similar organization, or any other trust (unless
by its terms the trust must terminate within twenty-five years or not
later than twenty-one years and ten months after the death of
individuals living on the effective date of the trust). It does not
include any corporation the majority of the shares of which are owned
by the United States or by any State, or a qualified family
partnership, as defined in section 2(o)(10) of the Bank Holding Company
Act of 1956, as amended (12 U.S.C.
1841(o)(10)).

(d) Consumer means an individual who purchases, applies
to purchase, or is solicited to purchase from you insurance products or
annuities primarily for personal, family, or household purposes.

(e) Control of a company has the same meaning as in
section 3(w)(5) of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act
(12 U.S.C. 1813(w)(5)).

(f) Domestic violence means the occurrence of one or
more of the following acts by a current or former family member,
household member, intimate partner, or caretaker:

(2) Engaging in a course of conduct or repeatedly committing acts
toward another person, including following the person without proper
authority, under circumstances that place the person in reasonable fear
of bodily injury or physical harm;

(3) Subjecting another person to false imprisonment; or

(4) Attempting to cause or causing damage to property so as to
intimidate or attempt to control the behavior of another person.

(g) Electronic media includes any means for transmitting
messages electronically between you and a consumer in a format that
allows visual text to be displayed on equipment, for example, a
personal computer monitor.

(h) Office means the premises of a bank where retail
deposits are accepted from the public.

(i) Subsidiary has the same meaning as in section
3(w)(4) of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act
(12 U.S.C. 1813(w)(4)).

(j)(1) You means:

(i) A bank; or

(ii) Any other person only when the person sells, solicits,
advertises, or offers an insurance product or annuity to a consumer at
an office of the bank or on behalf of a bank.

(2) For purposes of this definition, activities on behalf of a
bank include activities where a person, whether at an office of the
bank or at another location sells, solicits, advertises, or offers an
insurance product or annuity and at least one of the following applies:

(i) The person represents to a consumer that the sale,
solicitation, advertisement, or offer of any insurance product or
annuity is by or on behalf of the bank;

(ii) The bank refers a consumer to a seller of insurance products
or annuities and the bank has a contractual arrangement to receive
commissions or fees derived from a sale of an insurance product or
annuity resulting from that referral; or

(iii) Documents evidencing the sale, solicitation, advertising,
or offer of an insurance product or annuity identify or refer to the
bank.

[Codified to 12 C.F.R. § 343.20]

§ 343.30 Prohibited practices.

(a) Anticoercion and antitying rules. You may not
engage in any practice that would lead a consumer to believe that an
extension of credit, in violation of section 106(b) of the Bank Holding
Company Act Amendments of 1970 (12
U.S.C. 1972), is conditional upon either:

(1) The purchase of an insurance product or annuity from the bank
or any of its affiliates; or

(2) An agreement by the consumer not to obtain, or a prohibition
on the consumer from obtaining, an insurance product or annuity from an
unaffiliated entity.

(b) Prohibition on misrepresentations generally. You
may not engage in any practice or use any advertisement at any office
of, or on behalf of, the bank or a subsidiary of the bank that could
mislead any person or otherwise cause a reasonable person to reach an
erroneous belief with respect to:

(1) The fact that an insurance product or annuity sold or offered
for sale by you or any subsidiary of the bank is not backed by the
Federal government or the bank, or the fact that the insurance product
or annuity is not insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation;

(2) In the case of an insurance product or annuity that involves
investment risk, the fact that there is an investment risk, including
the potential that principal may be lost and that the product may
decline in value; or

(3) In the case of a bank or subsidiary of the bank at which
insurance products or annuities are sold or offered for sale, the fact
that:

(i) The approval of an extension of credit to a consumer by the
bank or subsidiary may not be conditioned on the purchase of an
insurance product or annuity by the consumer from the bank or a
subsidiary of the bank; and

(ii) The consumer is free to purchase the insurance product or
annuity from another source.

(c) Prohibition on domestic violence
discrimination. You may not sell or offer for sale, as principal,
agent, or broker, any life or health insurance product if the status of
the applicant or insured as a victim of domestic violence or as a
provider of services to victims of domestic violence is considered as a
criterion in any decision with regard to insurance underwriting,
pricing, renewal, or scope of coverage of such product, or with regard
to the
payment of insurance claims on
such product, except as required or expressly permitted under state
law.

[Codified to 12 C.F.R. § 343.30]

§ 343.40 What you must disclose.

(a) Insurance disclosures. In connection with the
initial purchase of an insurance product or annuity by a consumer from
you, you must disclose to the consumer, except to the extent the
disclosure would not be accurate, that:

(1) The insurance product or annuity is not a deposit or other
obligation of, or guaranteed by, the bank or an affiliate of the bank;

(2) The insurance product or annuity is not insured by the
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) or any other agency of the
United States, the bank, or (if applicable) an affiliate of the bank;
and

(3) In the case of an insurance product or annuity that involves
an investment risk, there is investment risk associated with the
product, including the possible loss of value.

(b) Credit disclosure. In the case of an application
for credit in connection with which an insurance product or annuity is
solicited, offered, or sold, you must disclose that the bank may not
condition an extension of credit on either:

(1) The consumer's purchase of an insurance product or annuity
from the bank or any of its affiliates; or

(2) The consumer's agreement not to obtain, or a prohibition on
the consumer from obtaining, an insurance product or annuity from an
unaffiliated entity.

(c) Timing and method of disclosures.(1) In
general. The disclosures required by paragraph (a) of this
section must be provided orally and in writing before the completion of
the initial sale of an insurance product or annuity to a consumer. The
disclosure required by paragraph (b) of this section must be made
orally and in writing at the time the consumer applies for an extension
of credit in connection with which an insurance product or annuity is
solicited, offered, or sold.

(2) Exception for transactions by mail. If a sale of
an insurance product or annuity is conducted by mail, you are not
required to make the oral disclosures required by paragraph (a) of this
section. If you take an application for credit by mail, you are not
required to make the oral disclosure required by paragraph (b).

(3) Exception for transactions by telephone. If a
sale of an insurance product or annuity is conducted by telephone, you
may provide the written disclosures required by paragraph (a) of this
section by mail within 3 business days beginning on the first business
day after the sale, excluding Sundays and the legal public holidays
specified in 5 U.S.C. 6103(a). If you take an application for credit by
telephone, you may provide the written disclosure required by paragraph
(b) of this section by mail, provided you mail it to the consumer
within three days beginning the first business day after the
application is taken, excluding Sundays and the legal public holidays
specified in 5 U.S.C. 6103(a).

(4) Electronic form of disclosures. (i) Subject to
the requirements of section 101(c) of the Electronic Signatures in
Global and National Commerce Act (12 U.S.C. 7001(c)), you may provide
the written disclosures required by paragraph (a) and (b) of this
section through electronic media instead of on paper, if the consumer
affirmatively consents to receiving the disclosures electronically and
if the disclosures are provided in a format that the consumer may
retain or obtain later, for example, by printing or storing
electronically (such as by downloading).

(ii) Any disclosure required by paragraphs (a) or (b) of this
section that is provided by electronic media is not required to be
provided orally.

(5) Disclosures must be readily understandable. The
disclosures provided shall be conspicuous, simple, direct, readily
understandable, and designed to call attention to the nature and
significance of the information provided. For instance, you may use the
following disclosures in visual media, such as television broadcasting,
ATM screens,
billboards, signs, posters and
written advertisements and promotional materials, as appropriate and
consistent with paragraphs (a) and (b) of this section:

* NOT A DEPOSIT

* NOT FDIC-INSURED

* NOT INSURED BY ANY FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AGENCY

* NOT GUARANTEED BY THE BANK

* MAY GO DOWN IN VALUE

(6) Disclosures must be meaningful. (i) You
must provide the disclosures required by paragraphs (a) and (b) of this
section in a meaningful form. Examples of the types of methods that
could call attention to the nature and significance of the information
provided include:

(A) A plain-language heading to call attention to the
disclosures;

(B) A typeface and type size that are easy to read;

(C) Wide margins and ample line spacing;

(D) Boldface or italics for key words; and

(E) Distinctive type size, style, and graphic devices, such as
shading or sidebars, when the disclosures are combined with other
information.

(ii) You have not provided the disclosures in a meaningful form
if you merely state to the consumer that the required disclosures are
available in printed material, but do not provide the printed material
when required and do not orally disclose the information to the
consumer when required.

(iii) With respect to those disclosures made through electronic
media for which paper or oral disclosures are not required, the
disclosures are not meaningfully provided if the consumer may bypass
the visual text of the disclosures before purchasing an insurance
product or annuity.

(7) Consumer acknowledgment. You must obtain from the
consumer, at the time a consumer receives the disclosures required
under paragraphs (a) or (b) of this section, or at the time of the
initial purchase by the consumer of an insurance product or annuity, a
written acknowledgment by the consumer that the consumer received the
disclosures. You may permit a consumer to acknowledge receipt of the
disclosures electronically or in paper form. If the disclosures
required under paragraphs (a) or (b) of this section are provided in
connection with a transaction that is conducted by telephone, you must:

(i) Obtain an oral acknowledgment of receipt of the disclosures
and maintain sufficient documentation to show that the acknowledgment
was given; and

(ii) Make reasonable efforts to obtain a written acknowledgment
from the consumer.

(d) Advertisements and other promotional material for
insurance products or annuities. The disclosures described in
paragraph (a) of this section are required in advertisements and
promotional material for insurance products or annuities unless the
advertisements and promotional materials are of a general nature
describing or listing the services or products offered by the bank.

[Codified to 12 C.F.R. § 343.40]

§ 343.50 Where insurance activities may take place.

(a) General rule. A bank must, to the extent
practicable, keep the area where the bank conducts transactions
involving insurance products or annuities physically segregated from
areas where retail deposits are routinely accepted from the general
public, identify the areas where insurance product or annuity sales
activities occur, and clearly delineate and distinguish those areas
from the areas where the bank's retail deposit-taking activities
occur.

(b) Referrals. Any person who accepts deposits from the
public in an area where such transactions are routinely conducted in
the bank may refer a consumer who seeks to purchase an insurance
product or annuity to a qualified person who sells that product only if
the person making the referral receives no more than a one-time,
nominal fee of a fixed
dollar amount for each referral
that does not depend on whether the referral results in a transaction.

A bank may not permit any person to sell or offer for sale any
insurance product or annuity in any part of its office or on its
behalf, unless the person is at all times appropriately qualified and
licensed under applicable State insurance licensing standards with
regard to the specific products being sold or recommended.

[Codified to 12 C.F.R. § 343.60]

Appendix A to Part 343--Consumer Grievance Process

Any consumer who believes that any bank or any other person selling,
soliciting, advertising, or offering insurance products or annuities to
the consumer at an office of the bank or on behalf of the bank has
violated the requirements of this part should contact the Division of
Supervision and Consumer Protection (DSC), Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation, at the following address: 550 17th Street, NW.,
Washington, DC 20429, or telephone 202--942--3100 or 800--934--3342, or
e-mail dcainternetfdic.gov.

[Codified to 12 C.F.R. Part 343, Appendix A]

[Appendix A to Part 343 amended at 67 FR 44351, July 2, 2002,
effective June 30, 2002]